JPS6138791B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a refrigerator, and particularly to an air conditioner for a refrigerator equipped with a humidifier.

[Background of the Invention] A conventional refrigerator air conditioner has a configuration as shown in FIG. In the figure, an air conditioner 1 installed in a refrigerator 10 is provided with an air intake port 2 below. Inside the air conditioner casing above this air intake port 2 is a cooling coil 4.
is installed. A refrigerant pipe 5 is connected to the cooling coil 4 via a refrigerant flow control valve 6. This refrigerant pipe 5 is connected to a refrigerator (not shown). Further, a discharge port 7 is provided above the cooling coil 4 in a continuous manner with the air conditioner casing 3, and a blower 8 is provided in the discharge port 7. On the other hand, a humidifier 9 is installed at an appropriate location within the refrigerator 10 (the most appropriate location is the upper part of the inner wall of the refrigerator 10 facing the air conditioner 1).

With this configuration, the air flowing in from the air intake port 2 of the air conditioner 1 is cooled to a predetermined temperature by the cooling coil 4, and then sent to the refrigerator from the exhaust port 7 by the blower 8. Sent within 10 days. When cooling to a predetermined temperature by this cooling coil 4, if frost adheres to the cooling coil 4 and the heat transfer efficiency decreases, first, the refrigerant flow control valve 6
is closed to perform natural defrosting of the cooling coil 4. When the defrosting of the cooling coil 4 is completed, the refrigerant flow control valve 6 is opened to supply refrigerant to the cooling coil 4 and cooling is restarted. In addition, if the incoming goods 11 stored in the refrigerator 10 are fruits and vegetables, the relative humidity is 80%.
However, in the conventional air conditioner as shown in FIG. 1, a predetermined relative humidity cannot be maintained because the cooling coil 4 performs a dehumidifying action. Therefore, in the past, a humidifier 9 was provided near the outlet 7 in the air conditioner 1 or in the refrigerator 10 separately from the air conditioner 1 as shown in FIG. 1 to obtain a predetermined relative humidity.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in an air conditioner equipped with such a conventional humidifying device, since the drain water dehumidified in the cooling coil 4 is discharged, the humidifier 9
This had the disadvantage of requiring new supply of make-up water. In addition, in the case of an air conditioner equipped with a conventional humidifier, if the humidifier 9 is installed in the refrigerator 10 separately from the air conditioner 1, incoming goods cannot be placed in the place where the humidifier 9 is installed. This had the disadvantage that storage capacity was reduced.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner for a refrigerator that can maintain a predetermined humidity without requiring makeup water.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides makeup water by providing a humidifying device in a casing of an air conditioner through a partition in parallel with a cooling coil, and using water dehumidified by the cooling coil as the water supplied to the humidifying device. The idea is to maintain a predetermined humidity without using it.

That is, the present invention provides an air conditioner for a refrigerator in which a cooling coil is provided in a casing and the temperature inside the refrigerator is maintained at a predetermined temperature by circulating the air inside the refrigerator using a blower. A water receiving tank is provided at the bottom of the casing to store drain water dehumidified by the cooling coil, and the inside of the casing is separated from the cooling coil side system by a partition wall. a water droplet atomization device that atomizes water droplets sprayed from the spray nozzle; A demister is provided to remove water droplets of a certain particle size or more from among the water droplets that have passed through the atomization device, and the air cooled by the cooling coil is mixed with the humidified air that has passed through the demister. It is characterized in that it is supplied into the refrigerator from the above-mentioned outlet.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the refrigerator air conditioner according to the present invention.

In the drawings, the same reference numerals as in the conventional example shown in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts and the same functions. This embodiment differs from the conventional example shown in FIG. 1 in that a humidifier is provided in the casing of the air conditioner 1 in parallel with the cooling coil via a partition wall. That is, inside the air conditioner casing 3 there is a partition wall 12 that partitions the inside of the air conditioner casing 3 into two.
is provided. One chamber formed by the partition wall 12 is provided with a cooling coil 4, and the other chamber is provided with several spray nozzles 15 connected to a header 16. Further, a water receiving tank 19 is provided at the lower end of the air conditioner casing 3 to receive drain water dehumidified from the cooling coil 4.
is provided. The drain water accumulated in this water receiving tank 19 is configured to be sent to the header 16 via a water pipe 17 by a pump 18. A water droplet atomization device 20 made of a cylindrical wire mesh is provided above the spray nozzle 15 so that the water sprayed from the spray nozzle 15 is further divided into fine particles.

The evaporation time of water droplets varies depending on the temperature, humidity, wind speed, etc. of the atmosphere, and the free falling speed of water droplets varies depending on the diameter of the water droplet. Based on these calculation formulas,
For example, when the falling distance of a water droplet until it evaporates when the air inside the refrigerator is 2° C. and 85% RH is determined, the result is as shown in FIG. By the way, the difference in height between the outlet of an air conditioner and the incoming product is generally about 1m, but for safety reasons, the diameter of water droplets that evaporate within a distance of 0.1m is 20μm, as shown in Figure 1. It is. Therefore, if water droplets of 20 μm or more are sprayed into the refrigerator, the indoor items will be damaged, so it is necessary to collect the water droplets of 20 μm or more with a demister. Therefore, a demister 21 is provided above the water droplet atomization device 20.

This demister 21 has a configuration as shown in FIG. The material of this demister 21 is usually aluminum in consideration of workability. This demister 21 has a trapping limit particle size (particle size that can be collected 100%) which varies depending on the pitch of the collecting plates, and has characteristics as shown in FIG. 5 based on experimental results. Therefore,
Taking the case of 2℃ and 85%RH mentioned above as an example, 20μ
The collection plate pitch to obtain the collection limit particle size of m is 10
mm is fine. Naturally, the temperature, humidity, wind speed, etc. inside the refrigerator vary depending on the type of stored product, so it is possible to cope with this by changing the pitch of the collection plates of the demister depending on the stored product.

Further, the partition wall 12 has a length such that its lower end is buried in the drain water of the water receiving tank 19, and the upper end of the partition wall 12 is such that the air passing through the cooling coil 4 and the demister 21 are connected to each other. Its upper end is open so that the incoming air can be mixed well with the air. Further, an air intake port 14 is provided in the lower air conditioner casing 3 of the header 16 to take in air guided to the spray nozzle 15. The spray nozzle 15, header 16, water pipe 17, pump 18,
Water tank 19, water droplet refiner 20, demister 21
The humidifying device 50 is configured by:

Since it is configured like this, first of all,
A refrigerant is supplied to the cooling coil 4 to cool the inside of the refrigerator 10 to a predetermined temperature. Drain water generated when cooling to a predetermined temperature by the cooling coil 4 is stored in a water receiving tank 19.

On the other hand, the air flowing in from the air intake port 14 comes into contact with water sprayed from the spray nozzle 15 and is humidified. Further, the water sprayed from the spray nozzle 15 is further atomized into smaller particles by a water droplet atomization device 20.
Conveyed by humidified air. The air containing water droplets is separated into large water droplets by the demister 21, and after being sent into the refrigerator 10 from the discharge port 7, it continues to contain small water droplets that evaporate before falling by gravity. The air is mixed with the cooling air cooled by the cooling coil 4 and then sent to the outlet 7 by the blower 8.
It is then sent into the refrigerator 10.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, fruits and vegetables generally evaporate water from themselves through respiration, so the amount of humidification is 10 to 15% lower than the amount of dehumidification.
Therefore, no supplementary water is required.

Further, according to the present invention, the minute water droplets are transferred to the refrigerator 10.
To cause evaporation within the warehouse,
The humidifying device can be made smaller compared to a method in which the entire amount of humidification required to obtain a predetermined humidity within the humidifying device is evaporated.

Further, according to the present invention, a predetermined humidity can be maintained without requiring makeup water.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the blower is provided in the discharge port connected to the casing,
Air cooled through the cooling coil and air humidified through the humidifier can be reliably supplied into the refrigerator at an appropriate ratio.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a configuration diagram of a conventional refrigerator air conditioner.
Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the refrigerator air conditioner according to the present invention, Fig. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing the diameter of water droplets and the distance that the water droplets fall before evaporating, and Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram of a demister. , FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the collection plate pitch of the demister and the collection limit particle size. 1...Air conditioner, 2...Air intake, 3...
Casing, 4... Cooling coil, 10... Refrigerator, 12... Partition wall, 15... Spray nozzle, 18...
... pump, 19 ... water tank, 20 ... water droplet atomization device, 21 ... demister.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an air conditioner for a refrigerator that maintains the temperature inside the refrigerator at a predetermined temperature by installing a cooling coil in the casing and circulating the air inside the refrigerator using a blower, the blower is installed in the discharge port connected to the casing. , a water receiving tank for storing drain water dehumidified by the cooling coil is provided in the lower part of the casing, and a system path is formed in the casing that is separated from the cooling coil side system path by a partition wall, a spray nozzle that sprays drain water stored in the water tank on the side of the isolated system into the air;
A water droplet atomization device that atomizes the water droplets sprayed from the spray nozzle, and a demister that removes water droplets with a certain particle size or more from among the water droplets that have passed through the water droplet atomization device are provided, and the water droplets are cooled by the cooling coil. An air conditioner for a refrigerator, characterized in that the humidified air that has passed through the demister is mixed with the humidified air that is supplied into the refrigerator from the outlet.